


Coming Out

by AyePatch



Series: AyePatch's Bumbleby Fics [6]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coming Out, F/F, Fluff, Splitting this off from my one shots series, cuz I'm planning on grouping and indexing all my canon compliant stuff in a series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28744386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyePatch/pseuds/AyePatch
Summary: Yang is struggling to come to terms with her newfound romantic and sexual identity. Blake is more than happy to help.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long
Series: AyePatch's Bumbleby Fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2107353
Comments: 8
Kudos: 69





	Coming Out

**Author's Note:**

> Did I write this as a way to explain why Yang makes that one comment about boys in "The Shining Beacon, Pt. 2" and then never shows any interest whatsoever in the opposite sex again for the rest of the series? Yes.
> 
> Did I also write this as a way to project my own personal coming out process onto Yang as a way to cope and process my feelings? Also yes.
> 
> I'm aware that Yang's already expressed an interest in girls in my timeline at this point, so this isn't so much coming out in that sense as it is Yang struggling to put a name to how she feels.
> 
> Set between Volumes 2 and 3

It had been a few days since Roman and the White Fang had attacked Vale from the Mountain Glenn tunnels, and things at Beacon were finally regaining some sense of normalcy. But for Yang Xiao Long, things hadn't felt "normal" for quite some time, and she had something she needed to get off of her chest. When Ruby and Weiss had taken off for a trip into Vale, leaving her alone with her best friend and partner, Yang decided to take the opportunity.

"Blake, there's something I need to talk to you about," she said, sliding down from her bunk and landing next to the raven-haired girl, who looked up from the book she was reading. "Well, it doesn't _have_ to be you specifically," Yang clarified nervously, "but I need to talk to someone and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with anyone else."

"Of course, Yang," Blake said warmly, setting aside her book as she sat up and patted the side of the bed next to her invitingly. "What is it?"

Yang sat down next to her and forced herself to lock eyes with her partner. "I… I think I might be a lesbian," she admitted timidly.

"Okay," Blake said with a comforting smile.

Yang waited for a moment to see if Blake would say anything else, but the Faunus girl simply sat patiently, still smiling warmly. Yang decided to continue. "Back at Signal, I never actually fell for any guys. There were some who were nice, and I definitely liked them, but not, you know, _like_ liked. But at the time, I didn't really understand that. They'd ask me out and I'd say yes, because, well, I liked them, and if someone you like asks you out on a date you say yes. I didn't really get that there was supposed to be a difference between liking a guy and _liking_ a guy. But, whenever things started to go further, it always made me really uncomfortable. After the third time I broke up with a guy after our first kiss, I started to get a reputation as a heartbreaker."

Blake's already gentle gaze softened as Yang looked helplessly down at her feet, and the blonde felt a reassuring hand rest on her shoulder, encouraging her to go on. "I… I didn't understand what was wrong with me. I knew I wanted a steady partner, but I couldn't even get past first base! And it was always _me_ who broke things off. I'd see my female friends hooking up with guys and I'd get jealous of them, and at the time I just thought I was jealous because they got to have someone who made them happy and I didn't. And maybe that was part of it, but, looking back, it's pretty obvious that I had crushes on at least a few of them. I knew that being a lesbian was a thing, and I knew of a few same-sex couples at Signal, but it wasn't like there were a lot of them. Especially compared to all the straight couples. And I know now that there were probably plenty of gay people there who either weren't out or didn't have a partner, but at the time I didn't know that. It wasn't something I ever talked to people about, you know? I just figured that I _couldn't_ be a lesbian. That it was just such an uncommon thing that it was way more likely that I just hadn't found the right guy. Does that make any sense?"

Yang looked back up at Blake, who nodded silently, seemingly content to simply listen until Yang was done. Yang wasn't going to complain. "I guess that's part of why I was so excited to come to Beacon. There'd be all sorts of new boys here, and maybe I'd finally find the one I was looking for! I still remember my very first night at Beacon, sleeping in the ballroom. I told Ruby how excited I was to be around all those boys but…" she grimaced, and felt the hand on her shoulder give a gentle squeeze. "Gods, it feels weird to even _think_ about saying that now. I don't really know what happened that made me start to realize what was really going on—" That was a lie. She knew _exactly_ what had happened. Or, more specifically, _who_ had happened. And she was sitting right next to her, smiling at her with a tenderness that made her heart glow. "—but eventually it all started to click into place. It wasn't this big epiphany though. More like a bunch of little ones. I'd catch myself staring at cute girls in class. A guy would flirt with me and I'd suddenly feel really uncomfortable. I'd see a pretty girl walking down the hall and realize that I was just a _little_ too fascinated with how she looked for it to be completely innocent."

She sighed, finally getting to the crux of what had been bothering her for months. "The thing is though, I'm still not completely sure what I am. I know I like girls— I figured that out pretty quickly— but I still don't know if I might still like guys under the right circumstances, or if I'm just not interested in them at all. I'm pretty sure it's the latter, but once in a while I'll see a guy and think, 'oh, he's cute.' Never more than that, but I promised myself I wouldn't ignore those sorts of feelings anymore. But then, weeks will go by and nothing like it will happen again, and I can't help but wonder if I might just still be misreading things the same way I did back at Signal." She looked back up at Blake, and she might have been imagining it, but her partner seemed to have moved ever so slightly closer while she had been looking away.

"It's… actually kind of funny that you'd come to me about this, Yang," Blake said softly.

"Why's that?"

"Because I actually have some experience with this." Yang tried to force down the cocktail of emotions that formed at the implications of _that_ sentence. She didn't need her crush on her partner complicating things right now. "I haven't told anyone about it, not even Sun," Blake continued, "but… I'm bisexual. Well, I guess _technically_ I'd be pan," she clarified with a shrug as she briefly broke eye contact, "but I prefer to call myself bi." She looked back up at Yang, and now she _did_ scoot closer, enough for the rest of the room to fade away in Yang's mind, leaving only the two of them as the dip in the mattress lightly brushed their thighs together. "The thing you need to understand is, these labels aren't perfect. There are as many sexualities as there are people. Yes, they might broadly fall into a few different categories, but no two people's attractions are exactly alike. I _can_ feel an attraction to people who identify as something other than male or female, but for me, it's not something that comes up very often. So I prefer to just say that I'm bi, and deal with other attractions if and when they come up."

"So, you think I should call myself a lesbian and handle my feelings for guys on a case-by-case basis?" Yang asked, trying to swallow her heart out of her throat and back down where it belonged. She hated how her stomach filled with butterflies at even the slightest touch from her partner, but somehow, Blake was still managing to comfort and calm her in spite of it.

"I think you should call yourself whatever feels best." Blake smiled softly.

"Then I think… I think that would be it." Yang nodded as she spoke, as much to herself as to Blake. "If I ever _do_ get a real crush on a guy, then I can always change it, right?"

"Exactly!"

"Well then," Yang straightened her back and proudly locked eyes with Blake. "Blake Belladonna, I am a lesbian!" Her entire body relaxed, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. " _Gods,_ that felt _so_ good to say!"

Blake giggled. "Congratulations!"

Yang couldn't help but giggle too. "You say that like it's some sort of big accomplishment or something!" She laughed.

Blake's smile somehow managed to be serious and joyful and loving, all at the same time. "Yang, finding out something new about yourself is _always_ a big accomplishment."

"Yeah," Yang said, nodding as the words sank in. "Yeah, I guess it is!"

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to let me know what you think in the comments! Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, and what you want to see! Your feedback is a big part of what keeps me motivated!


End file.
